Tuesday: Hili dialogue

May 14, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Tuesday, the cruelest day: May 14, 2019. It’s National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, a wonderful American breakfast breadstuff that should be culturally appropriated by the entire world. It’s also Israel Independence Day, marking the day in 1948 when Israel declared independence. Expect pushback from Israel-hating students throughout the U.S. and UK.

On this day in 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was settled as an English colony. It was the capital of Virginia from 1619 until 1699. On May 14, 1643, Louis XIV, aged only four, became the king of France after his dad (Louis XIII, naturally), died. The Sun King reigned for 72 years and 110 days, the longest of any European monarch so far (but Queen Elizabeth may surpass him—she’s reigned for 67 years.  On this date in 1796, Edward Jenner administered the first smallpox vaccination, though there are descriptions of others having used the method before. Here’s how Wikipedia describes what Jenner did after observing that milkmaids (who got cowpox) were subsequently immune to smallpox.

On 14 May 1796, Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy who was the son of Jenner’s gardener. He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom, whose hide now hangs on the wall of the St George’s medical school library (now in Tooting). Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenner’s first paper on vaccination.

Jenner inoculated Phipps in both arms that day, subsequently producing in Phipps a fever and some uneasiness, but no full-blown infection. Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, the routine method of immunization at that time. No disease followed. The boy was later challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection.

On May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition, setting out to explore the American West, departed from Camp Dubois, traveling up the Missouri River. They did not return for two years and four months.  On this date in 1925, Virginia Woolf’s famous novel Mrs Dalloway was published.

And this is unbelievable. Wikipedia says that on this day in 1939, “Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.” FIVE YEARS OLD (and seven months) AND SHE HAD A BABY!  She gave birth via a Caesarian section, never revealed the father’s identity, and is still alive at 85.  Here’s a video about her:

Finally, on this day in 1948, Israel was declared to be an independent state and formed a government. The very same day, the country was attacked by neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Notables born on this day include Thomas Gainsborough (1727), Otto Klemperer (1885), Sidney Bechet and Ed Ricketts (both 1897), Bobby Darin (1936), George Lucas (1944), Cate Blanchett (1969; 50 today), and Mark Zuckerberg (1984).

Here’s “Six Studies of a Cat” by Gainsborough, drawn between 1763 and 1769 (chalk on brown paper).

Source

Those who passed to the Great Beyond on May 14 include Carl Schurz (1906), August Strindberg (1912), Emma Goldman (1940), Sidney Bechet (1959, died on his birthday), Rita Hayworth (1987), Frank Sinatra (1998), B. B. King (2015), and Tom Wolfe (last year).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the dialogue between the beasts was a bit opaque, so I asked Malgorzata for an explanation:
Hili starts to say something  in a usual way (“you see” here may mean “you understand”), but Cyrus interrupts her and answers that he does see (probably meaning that he is not blind). Such instant understanding makes Hili think about peripatetics, this very wise group which used to hone their wisdom while walking. And Hili and Cyrus are walking.
To wit:
Hili: You see, my dear…
Cyrus: I see.
Hili: And that’s the wisdom of peripatetics.\
In Polish:

From Facebook—a bad choice of words. At least they aren’t Catholics!

Two tweets from Heather Hastie. This cat would make a great goalie!

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1127557686529265664

A litter of seven fox kits is saved. These are, of course, honorary cats:

Tweets from Grania:. Yes, it’s a bumper crop not just of ducks, but of cats.

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1122122042617290753

I don’t get claustrophobic easily, but this freaks me out.

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1121267591236861953

Really clever. I wonder if he can make one that quacks.

Crikey—fiery mud!

Tweets from Matthew. Sadly, this analogy is imperfect, for opening the door creates a known outcome:

https://twitter.com/MichaelGalanin/status/1119401677587656704

How did a marine organism get preserved in amber? We don’t know, but read the thread for suggestions.

I’ve put a video of the “snakebird’s” fishing technique and lifestyle below the tweet:

Look at those crazy chicks!

This question is a bit ambiguous, as “real” could mean either “real and divine” or “a regular person who gave rise to the Jesus story.” Still, go see the answers.

 

 

26 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. “New Life”

    More and more, I think religion works in these seemingly trivial ways – a slogan like “New Life” appeals to individuals who really feel like they need a new life. It works in moments of experience, akin to music. The music calls to them – and then the victim is absorbed, many times irreversibly.

  3. “Reaching out ~ Reaching up ~ Reaching in ~ Reaching around”

    The Good Book does say, Acts 20:35, that “[i]t is more blessed to give than to receive.”

  4. Jamestown, Va. one of the points on the Historical Triangle if you visit that part of the country. At the time I visited the area there was nothing there, however I see they have an archaeological project there since the 90s.

    1. There are usually several smallish archaelogical digs in progress, carried out by college of william and mary faculty and students and state of virginia archaeologists i believe. The diggers are always happy to talk with visitors and explain their work. There are two parks at jamestown: one national and one developed by the state of virginia. Both have fees for entry but the national park recognizes the golden entry pass for geezers. Both parks have points of interest with the state park visitors facility containing very interesting and informative displays and descriptions.

    2. An enormous amount has been discovered at Jamestown since archaeology started in 1994. A sea change since I was an undergrad @ W&M 20+ yrs before that. There’s now evidence to support reports of cannibalism, for starts. I remember a video, that I can’t find now, showing recovery of a halberd from an abandoned well, too. And all because of Bill Kelso.

      1. I know it is late in the day, but i would add to my remarks abovethat with the center of government and commerce moving to williamsburg at the end of the 1600s, much of history of the use of the jamestown land since 1607 is likely well preserved a few feet below the surface. The jamestown island itself remains as it likely was 400 years ago…a wooded marsh and lowlands broken only by a 20th century five mile, one lane loop road.

  5. Yes, the baby foxes reunite with their mom, but the job is not complete! Who’s going to fix the veranda?

    1. Not sure what the problem was – they seemed happy there! I would gladly have foxes, had I a veranda. acquired a fox jaw yesterday – missing part of a skull of a dead fox that died in a friend’s garden.

      1. I suppose the owner did not want them. And I cannot blame him. Rabies is no joke. I wonder why one of the rescuers was bare-handed.

  6. “On this day in 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was settled as an English colony. It was the capital of Virginia from 1619 until 1699.”

    Yet Plymouth colony – one of many in what would eventually become the Massachusetts Bay Colony alone – gets absolutely top billing in the American mythos, despite being founded 13 years later, and disbanded in 1691 when the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded.

    I think religion is the reason.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony

    Also see Kurt Andersen’s Fantasyland

  7. The Schrodinger plates meme doesn’t work at all. As is inevitable with people like me, I found it annoying as soon as I saw it.

    I quickly started thinking up replies to the tweet in my head, all of which began with the word ‘actually…’ or ‘I think you’ll find,,,’, then I had a sudden shattering realisation about why I’m never invited to parties.

    1. “..then I had a sudden shattering realisation about why I’m never invited to parties.”

      Nice pun that works on two levels. Have you sought out Tupperware parties?

  8. But of course Jesus was real. We wouldn’t be able to solve the “Lewis’s trilemma” if he wasn’t. /sarcasm

    1. I was speaking with a medical statistician about working with surgeons on their surveys and trying to teach them why questions like this one are so bad. This is a great example of a question that is so loaded with assumptions that it can’t be answered. What does “real” mean in this context? That someone called “Jesus” lived? That someone lived that stories were woven around? That he was god? etc. etc. etc. The more you think about this question the harder it is to figure out how to answer it. Eventually you either give up or just answer randomly because no answer seems right.

      1. I can see the Christianity Today headline now: “30% Of Atheists Believe Jesus Was Real But Are Still Atheists. Obviously Not Very Bright People.”

  9. I got confused. Seeing Otto Klemperer, I thought Hogan’s Heroes? Turns out Werner Klemperer was Otto’s son. But Otto, coming to the US on account of Hitler, had a life full of twists and turns unrelated to that (including brain surgery in 1939!), and it’s amazing that he lived to be 88.

    1. Otto’s a really interesting guy. Got a memoir of his I’ve been meaning to get to…

  10. I never fail to take issue with Jenner being credited as the first to introduce smallpox vaccination in Britain (and I specifically note Britain as opposed to somewhere else).

    I credit Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (Alexander Pope’s frenemy) with introducing smallpox vaccination to Britain in the early-mid 18th century, decades before Jenner, who had not even been conceived at the time. I wonder if she is ignored because she was a woman and not a scientist.

    Jenner used cowpox; Lady Mary used live smallpox virus after observing smallpox vaccination while traveling in Turkey. She called it “variolation” and it was a very big deal at the time, much controversy among the upper classes. I imagine the controversy must have been something like the vaccination controversy of today. Jenner used cowpox virus, which was much safer. However, Lady Mary’s technique was admirably successful. One can quibble over “variolation” and “vaccination” and credit vaccination to Jenner, thus obscuring and conveniently eliminating Lady Mary from the history of vaccination in the West; but IMO that’s chauvinist quibbling over terms. And the Turks had been doing this for who knows how long. They don’t get any credit, either. In fact, much of the objection to her method was because it came from the ‘Orient’.

  12. I can’t follow the thread very deeply, but I think the ammonite was already a fossil, eroded out of a cliff, and secondarily interred in tree resin which is now amber. Cool, but not Jurassic Park cool.

  13. Are buttermilk biscuits the same things as scones? In which case cultural appropriation may not be appropriate!

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